Lamar QB played two weeks with hurt hand

Lamar quarterback Ryan Mossakowski played for two weeks with the hand injury that caused him to miss the game Saturday at Northwestern State, he said Tuesday.

He injured the hand in a game Sept. 15 at Hawaii, and each of his five interceptions this season occurred in the two games after that. Mossakowski did not pin the interceptions on the injury but said the hand has bothered him in recent weeks, usually in the instant after he releases a pass.

“It’s more after I throw,” Mossakowski said. “During I throw I feel like it doesn’t affect me as much. But afterwards I feel it.”

Mossakowski said he and backup Caleb Berry shared snaps with the No. 1 offense during practices last week.

Berry played the entire game at Northwestern State, completing 18 of 36 passes for 180 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the 30-23 loss.

“Caleb did awesome,” Mossakowski said. “I was very happy to see him go out and give the performance that he had. I thought he played really well from a quarterback standpoint. He does a lot of things better than I do. It’s good to see him get out there and get his shot and get his turn. I was very excited for him. I was there rooting for him every step of the way. It was good to see him go out and get the jitters out and just play. Once he relaxed, he played phenomenal.”

Mossakowski plans “to practice as much as I can,” he said. “Just like last week and the week before, just like I was starting.”

Lamar coach Ray Woodard said Monday he noticed during practices last week Mossakowski did not have his usual zip on passes.

“You could just tell,” Woodard said. “He won’t say a word. He’ll say it’s great because he wants to play. He could play. There’s no doubt he could play. He probably could have played pretty good. I’m not saying that he can’t play at all. I just thought Caleb gave us more of a chance with what he could do with a healthy arm and good feet.”

Mossakowski termed the hand injury as a longitudinal tear of a ligament between the knuckle that connects his pinky finger to his wrist. Mossakowski thinks he hurt the hand when he fell to the turf during the game at Hawaii.

“I put my hand down to break my fall,” he said. “It’s actually a longitudinal tear, which is kind of funny because of how I fell kind of in an awkward position.”